European Forum

Turkish President announces “immense vengeance” for PKK-attacks

On October 19th, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in response to attacks earlier that day by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (the former PKK) that "No one should forget that those who make us suffer this pain will be made to suffer even stronger. They will see that the vengeance for these attacks will be immense." The PKK, labelled a terrorist organization by the EU and the US, has increased its activity in recent months. With 26 Turkish soldiers killed, last night was the bloodiest attack in a string of violence.

Tuesday night several coordinated attacks on police and military targets in Turkey’s south-eastern Hakkari were carried out by the PKK, leaving over twenty Turkish soldiers dead. Turkey responded in kind, with large-scale air-to-ground and ground-to-ground operations which partly took place in neighbouring Iraq, to where many PKK-fighters fled. At least fifteen PKK-fighters have been killed.

Analysts speculate that the increased violence could be the result of the planned rewriting of the Turkish constitution, which currently dates back to the military dictatorship of the early eighties. The PKK fears that a new constitution would grant Kurds living in Turkey many rights, such as education in Kurdish and political representation, and thus weaken their fight for an independent state. The September 30 announcement by the Turkish military that “temporary security zones" in 15 separate locations across the southeast might be re-established could have also played a part.

Sources: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, NRC Handelsblad, NRC Handelsblad, Al-Jazeera, Image.